Continued from our previous post,
This might be a good time (if you have not done already) to mark your Bibles so that each of the Churches, Seals, and Trumpets are clearly visible to your eye as you look through Revelation. Personally I have far too many notes scribbled all over my pages to be able to see some little number written by each of these items so instead what I did was to purchase some of those little stick-on dots which were just big enough to write the numbers on and then to make them more visible I color coded them. For example the first Church, Seal, and Trumpet are all orange with the next series green and so on and so forth. Now I am able to easy reference each series when studying them.
Since these three views of the Gospel Age (Churches, Seals, and Trumpets) all seem similar in that each view is divided into seven parts it is only natural to ask,
What is the objective of each series? Why go through the seven periods of the age three times?
1) Churches: The messages to the “angels” of the seven churches are for the purpose of explaining prevailing weaknesses and conditions during each stage of the church. Thus the brethren of each period can be instructed as to what is to be overcome and what is necessary in order to accomplish the overcoming.
2) Seals: The descriptions found as each seal is opened are for the purpose of showing how the historical events of the period will have affected the church.
3) Trumpets: With respects to the trumpets there are two view-points held by the brethren 1) is that the trumpet sequence is just the opposite of the seals and interprets them as showing the effects of the church messages (truth) on surrounding society, and 2) is that the trumpets show how the false church was corrupting the truth.
“However in the case of the plagues, they are not contemporary, that is, unlike the churches, seals and trumpets which date from the same time period, the plagues follow after, that is, they are the just consequences of previous lessons unlearned, thus because the world didn’t listen to the trumpets, felled to heed the lessons, now the truths of the trumpets must be forced upon them by the plagues.”
In other words although the first church, first seal, and first trumpet are all contemporaneous one with another the first plague does not necessarily follow this sequence. Let me attempt to explain. Each stage of the church received a specific message of praise and or condemnation from the Lord and likewise what was required of them at that time, the seal connected to that stage of the church described how the church at that period was affected by historic events then transpiring, the trumpet showed how the truths then being espoused by the church at that time affected society (and/or how the false church was corrupting the truth).
Did they respond favorably or unfavorably, did they listen?
Obviously not, and thus the Lord sends the plagues upon them to force them to take heed.
However these plagues do not follow the same pattern as the before mentioned items, one in connection with the other instead they are ALL held in check until all seven stages of the church have received their specific message, seal and trumpet. Each stage of the church received these messages, seals and trumpets separately; nevertheless they are applicable to the church as a whole. Unfortunately it is the last stage of the church, the Laodicean stage (in which we live) that will bear the brunt of the plagues as they are poured out one following another.
Now how does this all relate to our study of the Beast “THAT WAS”, how do the scriptures interpret its rise its disappearance, and its subsequent reappearance or accent out of the bottomless pit?
We’ll take a look at this in our next post.
